I first became interested in the Kow Marsh people after attending the David Koch evolution exhibit at the Smithsonian in DC. there is a wall of skulls from about 6 million years ago to recent times tending to show the evolution from early hominids to modern homo sapiens. There are many skulls on this wall. One of the last in the lower right hand corner was labeled homo sapien from Kow Marsh. I looked at it carefully and said to myself, no way this is homo sapien. I then compared it with the several Neanderthal skulls exhibited. No, it didn’t look like Neanderthal either, although more like them than modern man. Then I compared with Heidelbergensis, and decided that it looked quite similar to them. I came home and Googled Kow Marsh and found the interesting story that these remains were only about 10 to 12,000 years old, therefore MUST be homo sapiens. So now we find very old rock painting in the far north where new homonids would first land in Australia and gradually move south. Then we find primitive remains that are only 12,000 years old in the far south. Logical conclusion, this may have been a remnant population that was finally killed off by the more recent Aboriginal people. Just like the Clovis first scientists, apparently, the folks in Australia also are lacking in imagination as well as respect for our ancient ancestors. Here are images of old skulls, the early ones being Kow Swamp. For more articles use Kow Swamp, not Kow Marsh.
Here is the Smithsonian “mis”identifying? the skull as homo sapiens: http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/kow-swamp
Mungo man skull reconstruction
Lake Mungo is a dry lake in south-western New South Wales, Australia. Many important archaeological findings have been made at the lake, most significantly the discovery of the remains of Mungo Man, the oldest human remains found in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest human remains in the world to be ritually cremated.
Aboriginal use of Lake Mungo in historical times
The Nanya family or tribe lived in the general area of Lake Mungo in the second half of the 19th Century.
Thanks glee'. The Kow Swamp skull is also dated "13,000 - 9,000 year old", sounds more like a relative of a group that, like the Homo Floriensis, persisted in Australia for a long time. Australia has a bigger isolationiist mindset than does Japan or possibly even the Clovis-First-and-Only crowd here in the Americas. I think we're still number one in that department. ;')